Dr. Karim El Solh is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Capital, one of the leading alternative asset management firms focused on Growth Markets, investing across several asset classes including Private Equity, Growth Capital and Real Estate. Under his leadership, Gulf Capital has been associated with some of the region’s most prominent private equity and mezzanine transactions and has won numerous awards including Best Private Equity Firm and Best Private Debt Firm in the Middle East. The Firm currently manages over $ 2.5 billion of assets across 7 funds and investment vehicles. Dr. El Solh is also the co-Managing Partner of Gulf Related, a leading real estate development company launched in partnership with the Related Companies. Dr. El Solh is a board member of the Global Private Capital Association (formerly EMPEA) and the Chairman of the GPCA Middle East Council.

Dr. El Solh is serving or has served as the Chairman of Geidea, ART Fertility, Metito Holdings and Maritime Industrial Services, and as the Director of Emirates Auction, Gulf Marine Services, Middle East Glass, Ma’arif for Education & Training, Reach Group, Depa Group, Metamed, the Galleria Mall Al Maryah Island, Antara Residential Project, NAS TPA and Aramex.

Dr Karim El Solh recently joined some of the world’s leading CEOs in supporting HRH The Prince of Wales’ Terra Carta, which provides a roadmap for businesses to move towards a sustainable future by 2030. The charter’s vision to help build an inspiring, inclusive, equitable, prosperous, and sustainable future. He is also a member of the Sustainable Markets Initiative and the Private Equity Taskforce on Sustainability.

Prior to founding Gulf Capital, Dr El Solh was the CEO of the leading UAE investment bank, The National Investor. Under his leadership, the Firm was involved in a number of groundbreaking private equity transactions and was ranked as the number one IPO underwriter in the Gulf. Dr El Solh was also a Co-Founder of the European High Yield Capital Markets/Leveraged Buy-Outs division at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette (DLJ – now part of Credit Suisse) and a senior investment banker in charge of equity offerings at Citigroup.

Dr. El Solh has a B.S. in civil engineering from Cornell University, an MBA from Georgetown University and a doctorate in economics from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). He is also a Chartered Management Accountant and a Professional Civil Engineer. He is on the Board of Advisors of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, a Board member of Georgetown’s Center for Financial Markets and Policy, a member of the Future of Work Initiative Advisory Group and on the Board of Trustees of the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (ADMAF). Dr. El Solh has been named as one of the Top 100 CEOs in the Gulf by CEO Magazine, one of the 500 Most Influential Arabs by Arabian Business Magazine and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Philipp Freise (London) joined KKR in 2001, is Co-Head of European Private Equity and serves as a member of KKR’s European Private Equity and Growth Equity Investment Committees, as well as its European Portfolio Management Committee.

Mr. Freise led KKR's investments in Axel Springer SE, BMG Rights Management, Fotolia, GetYourGuide, GfK SE, Leonine, Mediawan SAS, Scout24 Switzerland and Trainline and played a significant role in various other KKR TMT (Exact, ProSiebenSat.1, SBS Broadcasting) and German transactions (Demag, Duales System Deutschland, MTU Aero Engines, Zumtobel). Mr. Freise currently serves on the board of directors of Axel Springer SE, Leonine, Mediawan SAS and GfK SE.

He was a scholar of the German National Scholarship foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes) and graduated top of his class at WHU Koblenz, EDHEC Lille and University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business. He later worked at McKinsey & Company in Vienna, Frankfurt and New York, and subsequently co-founded Berlin-based venture investment firm Venturepark, Europe’s first pan-European incubator.

In 2009, Mr. Freise was named a Young Global Leader and in 2014 a member of the Agenda Council on the Future of Financing and Capital of the World Economic Forum. Mr. Freise serves on the board (Vorstand) of the Bayreuth Opera Festival (Gesellschaft der Freunde von Bayreuth).

Daniel “Danny” James is a Managing Partner and President of Trilantic North America. Danny is also a member of the Investment Committees of Fund III, Fund IV Global, Fund IV Europe, Fund V North America, TEP I North America, Fund VI North America and TEP II North America. Danny joined Trilantic North America in 2009 at its inception, prior to which he was a Managing Director and Head of North America at Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking (LBM😎. Danny was a member of the Investment Committee at LBMB. Prior to joining LBMB in 1995, Danny was a member of Lehman Brothers’ M&A Group based in London and New York. He joined Lehman Brothers in 1988. Danny is currently a director of Ortholite, Sunrise Strategic Partners, Sunrise Strategic Partners 2.0 and Traeger Pellet Grills. Danny holds a B.A. in Chemistry from the College of the Holy Cross.

Hugh MacArthur is a senior partner and chairman of Bain’s Global Private Equity Practice. He helped found the practice over 25 years ago, and works with a variety of private equity funds and alternative asset managers, including traditional buyout firms, hedge funds, infrastructure and real estate funds, distressed debt funds, sovereign wealth funds, venture capital firms and banks.

He has advised funds in the US, Europe, Middle East, Latin America, Asia and Africa, and has worked on hundreds of assignments across deals, strategy and operations.

Hugh has authored frequently on private equity value creation, state of the industry, and other related topics in publications around the globe. He currently writes a weekly LinkedIn blog on private markets topics called Private Thoughts from my Desk.

Hugh is also the host of Bain & Company’s Dry Powder: The Private Equity Podcast, in which he interviews leading experts on the trends and opportunities that will redefine the private equity industry.

Marcus Brennecke joined EQT Partners in January 2005 and is Partner and Co-Head of EQT Private Equity advisory team.

Marcus graduated from the University St. Gallen, CH (HSG). Prior to joining EQT Partners he spent seven years at Axel Springer Publishing Group (1987-94) and in PE (1994-04).

Marcus is a member of the Equity Partners Investment Committee, Chairman of the Portfolio Review Committee within EQT Equity (IDC) and Head of the Industrial Network.